Court confirms Zvornik war crimes verdict

Ivan Korać and Dragan Slavković received long prison sentences for their role in the crime committed in Zvornik, eastern Bosnia, in 1992.

By rejecting their request, the court confirmed the verdict of the Supreme Court of Serbia War Crimes Chamber which sentenced Slavković to 12 and Korać to nine years in prison for war crime against civilians.

The Supreme Court had previously reduced Slavković’s sentence from 15 to 12 years and Korać’ from 13 to nine years in prison.

For his involvement in the crime, Siniša Filipović was sentenced to three years while Dragutin Dragičević was acquitted.

The convicted war criminals were violating rules of international law in the municipality of Zvornik in Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the verdict.

It was determined that they on several occasions mentally and physically tortured 162 Muslim prisoners in June and July 1992 in the village of Čelopek.

At least 19 of the 162 detained civilians from the village of Divič were killed. They were severely abused in Čelopek and another two locations.

Another criminal proceeding for the same crime was being conducted against seven persons under the Zvornik1 and Zvornik2 indictments before the War Crimes Chamber, until November 2005.

The proceedings against Branko Grujić and Branko Popović (Zvornik2) were separated in May 2008 with a decision of the trial chamber.